2020 has created a new sensation: the blurred lines between work and home. Before the Coronavirus pandemic, separating from work was already difficult; I’d find myself checking emails late at night then lying awake in bed ruminating on unresolved problems (Project ReWork, 2019). Nevertheless, the change in physical space from my office to my home helped provide some line of demarcation separating work-life from home-life. Now, there is no separation. Going to work means walking to my basement. For you, it may mean sitting at your kitchen island. We are all remote workers now, and not by choice.  

Integration Preference

Integration preference explains how flexible or strict you keep your boundaries between work and home (Gadeyne, Verbruggen, Delanoeije, & De Cooman, 2018). Those with a high integration preference don't mind spillover; they prefer work and home boundaries to be highly permeable, flexible, and integrated. I have a high integration preference because it provides me the flexibility to address work and personal matters interchangeably throughout the workday and evening, though I still primarily focus on work from 9-5 at my company’s office. Unfortunately, the luxury of choice has been removed and the lines between work and home are hazier than I anticipated. The effects on my energy levels are becoming more and more obvious.

The Brink Of Burnout

Today, I manage an R&D program from home for a company focused on staying solvent, and my wife has added the unexpected homeschooling of our three boys to her plate.  My basement “home office” doubles as a playground, with all the kids anxious to burn off energy since all spring and summer activities have been cancelled. Though my wife and I are very cognizant that my duties with my company do not disappear due to the pandemic, we have come to realize that it is difficult not to involve me in the minute-by-minute household activity within this new arrangement. The simple fact is that I am in the house. Gillian White in an article from The Atlantic explains, "Researchers suggest that this may be because when individuals work from home, they’re automatically expected to take on the bulk of familial duties—from waiting for repairmen to childcare to chores—and that can create tension, especially if they’re still struggling with a full workload” (White, 2015). But why can these fast, unexpected shifts between work duties and home duties create so much tension?

Researchers Blake Ashforth, Glen Kreiner, and Mel Fugate explain that, "high flexibility and permeability render roles highly accessible such that either role may be interrupted without warning. Interruptions, as role boundary violations, disrupt the enactment of a role identity and may force an unwanted shift to another role identity. Interruptions thus disturb the ongoing identity maintenance process as role identities compete for attention and primacy" (Ashforth, Kreiner, & Fugate, 2000). Shifting from Program Manager to Dad, from Sales Rep to Dog Walker, from Software Developer to Playtime Referee and then back again means shifting your identity back and forth in short timeframes. Each shift burns through a lot of mental and emotional energy, and we’re sometimes doing dozens of them in a day now as compared to twice: when we’d leave for the office and when we’d returned.

Intention: A Remedy For Burnout

There is a silver lining. The beauty of working remotely in the midst of this pandemic is, that by chance or providence, it provides the sublime opportunity to live my life with much more intention. Though intentionality can be taxing, it is also liberating--and it’s the remedy for the exhausting role-shifting that feels forced upon us with no choice.

Living with intention takes on many forms. Here’s the game plan I’ve implemented:

• Created temporal boundaries

• Constructed physical boundaries

• Established boundary-interfacing rituals 

Temporal Boundaries: Separate The Time

First, I needed to adjust my working hours. My kids wake up at 8AM each morning. I knew if I could give the first-fruits of my time, focus, and energy to my company for 3-4 hours in the wee hours of the morning before my kids woke, this would be value-added. I made the adjustment, set my alarm clock for 4am, and it has allowed me to be more productive than I anticipated. Secondly, I needed to control telepressure, defined as that “strong urge to respond to work-related messages and a preoccupation with quick response times" (Van Laethem, Van Vianen, & Derks, 2018). While most of my team is coming back from their lunch break at 1pm, I am wrapping up my day. I needed to make my colleagues aware of these changes to help set proper expectations regarding my afternoon availability and to minimize telepressure. This has worked well and I’m grateful that, as Laura Giurge and Vanessa Bohns put it, I’ve been afforded, "the flexibility to experiment with how to make their circumstances work for them in these unpredictable times." (Giurge & Bohns, 2020). 

Physical Boundaries: Create a 10 foot commute

I realized that, if I am visible, my 1-year old daughter thinks it’s daddy time. To create a physical boundary, I cobbled together a small workspace in our daylight basement. It's worked great and, during meetings, my colleagues no longer see or hear my daughter yelling for me, as cute as she is. My basement workspace also now provides the physical boundary for me to "go to work" and "leave work", though it's only a flight of stairs. Research and my own experience have found that this physical separation is psychologically effective. 

Establish Rituals to Ease the Transition

Once I established temporal and physical boundaries, I finally created rituals that interplay between the two. I engage in meditation and prayer prior to walking down to my basement office at 4:15AM, which infuses meaning and purpose into the work that I’m about to start. I run and do a high-intensity workout at precisely 6:30AM everyday before re-engaging in my workday at 7:45AM with my first cup of coffee. Starting at 8:15AM, my meetings begin. Therefore I usually end my work days by 2PM, as my time—my energy—and my focus shift to my family. 

While not everyone can follow my lead and start their day at 4 AM, I hope these examples inspire you to form a game plan that will work for you.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION

Project Rework wants to hear from you! How are you avoiding burnout while working from home? Share your experiences and feedback on the LinkedIn, or over email. If you learned something new today, share this article with a colleague or friend.

References

Ashforth, B. E., Kreiner, G. E., & Fugate, M. (2000). All in a Day's work: Boundaries and micro role transitions. Academy of Management Review, 25(3), 472-491. doi:10.5465/amr.2000.3363315

Gadeyne, N., Verbruggen, M., Delanoeije, J., & De Cooman, R. (2018). All wired, all tired? Work-related ICT-use outside work hours and work-to-home conflict: The role of integration preference, integration norms and work demands. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 107, 86–99. doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2018.03.008

Giurge, L. M., & Bohns, V. K. (2020, April 3). 3 tips to avoid WFH burnout. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2020/04/3-tips-to-avoid-wfh-burnout

Gombert, L., Konze, A., Rivkin, W., & Schmidt, K. (2018). Protect your sleep when work is calling: How work-related smartphone use during non-work time and sleep quality impact next-day self-control processes at work. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(8), 1757. doi:10.3390/ijerph15081757

Newport, C. (2016). Deep work: Rules for focused success in a distracted world. Grand Central Publishing.

Ohly, S., & Fritz, C. (2009). Work characteristics, challenge appraisal, creativity, and proactive behavior: A multi-level study. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 31(4), 543-565. doi:10.1002/job.633

Project Rework. (n.d.). The zombie workforce — PROJECT [RE]WORK. Retrieved from https://projectrework.io/the-zombie-workforce

Sonnentag, S., & Kühnel, J. (2016). Coming back to work in the morning: Psychological detachment and reattachment as predictors of work engagement. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 21(4), 379-390. doi:10.1037/ocp0000020

Van Laethem, M., Van Vianen, A. E., & Derks, D. (2018). Daily fluctuations in smartphone use, psychological detachment, and work engagement: The role of workplace Telepressure. Frontiers in Psychology, 9. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01808

White, G. B. (2015, October 22). Working from home: Awesome or awful? Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/10/is-working-from-home-working-telecommute/411805/